High-resistance compound



UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

\VILLIAM GEORGE BREMER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNITED ELECTRIC IMPROVEMENT COMPANY, OF GLOUCESTER CITY,

NEIY JERSEY.

HIGH-RESISTANCE COMPOUND.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 443,497, dated December 30, 1890.

Application filed June 6, 1890. Serial No. 354,514. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM GEORGE RREMER, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, but now residing at the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in High- Resistance Compounds for Electrical and Similar Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the manufacture of a high-resistance compound for various purposes. 1

The principal object of my invention is to provide a high-resistance composition or compound capable of melting, softening, or fusing at a comparatively moderate temperature, according to the materials used in the composition for the manufacture of disks, rods, bars, pellets, plugs, or other forms, shapes, or configurations for use in cut-outs and safety devices in electric-lighting systems, but also adapted for other purposes.

My invention consists of a composition or compound capable of withstanding or measuring a high resistance and at the same time melting, softening, or fusing at a comparatively moderate temperature, as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim.

In order that my invention may be understood by those skilled in the art to which it appertains, I will now proceed to describe the same.

A certain quantity or percentage of graphite is first mixed with chloroform or bisulphide of carbon, and to which is added acertain quantity of shellac, the mass then worked in a mortar or other suitable device and then rolled into sheets or drawn out into rods or bars or caused to assume such other form, shape, or condition as requirement may demand. These sheets or bars are then exposed to heat in a suitable appliance for from one to five hours, more or less, when they are removed therefrom in a state or condition for use.

The mass or compound, as above described, after being rolled or drawn out into sheets in the aforesaid manner, may undergo the heating stage of the process of manufacture before being rolled into sheets ordrawn out into the form, shape, or configuration required for use, and in someinstances such will be found the preferable mode of manufacture thereof. The addition of the shellac to the mass prevents any tendency of brittleness in the product.

Again, the composition may consist of a certain quantity of rubber mixed or dissolved in bisulphide of carbon or chloroform, and to the mass thus dissolved is added a similar quantity of graphite, and subsequently there is added a small quantity of sulphur. The rubber, graphite, and sulphur above mentioned preferably employed in a thick solution, are then worked in a mortar or other suitable appliance until the solvent employed in the compounding of the mass has been evaporated. After undergoing the above-described operation the comparatively thick mass is then rolled into sheets or drawn out into rods or bars, or caused to assume such other form, shape, or condition, as may be required. After undergoing said f urther stage of the operation the composition in sheets, rods, or in any other preferred form which the mass has been caused to assume, is then exposed to heat in a vulcanizing apparatus for several hours, according to requirements. When removed from the vulcanizer, it will be found that the composition thus compounded or treated will have as sumed a hard or rigid state or condition ready for use; or, in other words, it will have assumed such a condition as that it will melt, soften, or fuse to a greater or less degree under the influence of a comparatively mild heat, or a heat such as is produced by an electric current broughtin contact therewith. The mass after being rolled or drawn out into sheets in the aforesaid manner may, if preferred, undergo the vulcanizing stage of the process of manufacture before being cut up into the desired form, shape, or configuration for use, and in some instances it willbe preferable to make the product in such manner.

In some cases it may be desirable that the composition will not readily melt, soften, or fuse.v In such instance the addition of a certain quantity or percentage of sulphate of baryta to the composition of graphite and rubber will give to the product this characteristic quality or condition; but in every instance it is very necessary for securing the best results that the constituent or component parts of the composition should consist of such substances or materials as will produce a homogeneous composition, in order that a high resistance in its use will be assured. For example, placed in the shunt of a cut-out device of an electric lamp, whereby when the filament or pencil of the lamp from any cause fails to operate, this composition in suitable form applied to such a device will operate effectually to cause the lamp to establish a short circuit or the current to be shunted through the particular lamp without affecting the others arranged in the series of the system. There are many other uses to which such composition may be advantageously ap plied in electric-lighting appliances or apparatus, and hence I do not limit myself to its use in cut-out devices.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention,what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A high-resistance compound consisting of graphite and shellac, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WM. GEO. l-lREMER.

\Vitnesscs:

WM. WURDACK, J OHN W. ACHARD. 

